Med error for new 2013 nurse

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got stressed about this. Need your input guys. My 1st med error! I picked up a shift in a nursing home yesterday. I missed 2 doses of keflex 500mg qid. I was working a day shift. The drug wasn't inside the pt's bin. It was hidden underneath other patient's bin. I did double checked the MARS of all of my patients at the end of the day but still missed it. I just found out this mistake today when the evening nurse yesterday put in the MAR that it wasn't given yesterday! I mentioned this to my supervisor and she told me to fill out an occurrence report, inform the physician and inform the family. The patient was taking the drug for UTI. She was in the middle of finishing the antibiotic therapy. I noticed that before this she originally was taking cipro, then they changed it to another antibiotic and then they changed it another antibiotic which is keflex. I am terrified of what the family will say. I am diligent with my drugs but I didn't know how I missed that. So troubled, I can't sleep well.

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Sorry you can't sleep. I too am new grad and can't sleep well either since I started new job. Lots of worrying. I havent made an error yet, but have seem many coworkers who have been RN's for YEARS make sloppy mistakes, so don't beat yourself up. You sound like me....extra cautious, so it is really a human error. I beat the family is very understanding.....hang in there!

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I'm relatively new myself, there's a med error occurrence sheet in my file- from my second week, it was a learning experience for me and it will probably be one for you, too. You didn't hurt anyone, I don't think that one day of missed abt is going to lead to a resistance problem, nor will the UTI turn fatal because of it. Can't tell how the family will react, but just see what happens. I was completely freaked out that I made one, but the other nurses were like "welcome to nursing, it's gonna happen", and I've moved on. Try to figure out how it happened and then make sure you change whatever it is that you were doing that might have contributed. Good luck.

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Specializes in Hospice.

I've been a nurse for 8+ years. Trust me when i say to you that you are not the first nurse to make a med error. In fact, any nurse that tells you they have never made a med error is not being truthful. We have all made one at one time or another.

The important thing is that you learn from it, and look at ways to make sure it doesn't happen again. (That's what the investigation forms are for. )

The fact that you feel bad about the error is a GOOD sign that you actually care. :)

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Honestly we all make mistakes. I'd be more concerned that the one patient has taken so many different antibiotics is a short amount of time. I hope y'all have a probiotic protocol to try to prevent CDiff.

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Specializes in LTC.

My 1st med error occurred the 1st time I wrote an order as a nurse. I was a brand new, license less than 3 days old nurse and had a resident in quite a bit of pain. I dutifully phoned the MD and obtained an order for Morphine. I read the order back to him, did all the "good nurse" things I was supposed to do. I nearly skipped into the resident's room to "save" her from her excruciating pain. I triumphantly explained to her what I had done and admin'd the med. I was so proud of myself for executing my months-long education with perfection! I went back to her chart to chart my accomplishment. I opened her chart and my heart nearly stopped. Under the "allergies" sticker was printed in near-perfect block letters: "Allergy: Morphine." As I attempted to recover from the CVA I had just caused myself, I quickly ran to the resident and asked her what happens if she takes Morphine. She stated, "It just makes me itchy." Ok. I finally draw my 1st breath in what felt like days, and phoned the MD. I apologetically stammered through the explanation of my allergy discovery. The MD laughed at me and prescribed Benadryl, "Just in case." The resident did not break out, and all ended well. Long story short: It happens. We learn from it. From that point forward to this day I ALWAYS check for allergies before calling the MD, and ALWAYS tell him/her what those allergies are even if I'm calling for a hangnail.

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I made my first med error as a nursing student. It was absolutely awful! I felt horrible. The patient was fine, just got twice the dose needed of a vaccine. I had to call the Dr. and call the family and file the incident report. I managed to keep my emotions under control until I did all the necessary paperwork and then I went to the bathroom and bawled my eyes out. I was an emotional wreck for a couple of days. But I went back to clinicals and continued on. The nurses were great about it. So was my instructor. I dreaded telling her,but all she said was, "Oh, welcome to nursing." The nurses at the facility started telling me all their stories of med errors. They reminded me that we are human and we will make mistakes. The important thing is that you learn from the mistake and do better. And yeah, if you were NOT emotional and upset about it, THEN I would worry. ;)

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Check out the other current thread on med errors in the Nurses section.

All of us make these errors.

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